This invention relates to valves and valve seats for flat valves and a method of making the same; more particularly, the invention relates to rapidly acting flat valves seating against a valve seat that is parallel to the seating surface of the valve.
Typically, flat valves, such as disc face or reed valves, are characterized by a valve seating surface on the valve which is parallel to the surface of the valve seat when the valve is in its seated, or closed, position. Valves of this type find use, for example, in the discharge and a compressible fluid handling apparatus. In such environments the flat valves are repeatedly and rapidly actuated to seat and unseat themselves, i.e. to close and open. To ensure a good sealing action, the valve must rapidly and securely engage the surface of the valve seat. Rapidity of valve actuation and the firm contact required for effective valve closure leads, in certain applications, to premature wear of both the valve and its corresponding seat. Accordingly, the prior art has attempted to alleviate this problem by the formation of generally continuous grooves surrounding the port. These grooves function as plenum chambers to dampen the progress of the flat valve toward the valve seat and thereby minimize the contact shock between valve and seat.
The formation of grooves in a valve seat surrounding the port is a generally expensive process which becomes even more expensive when the port is in a shape other than circular. For example, if the shape of the port is a slot, as it might be in the case of a reed valve, complex computer numerically controlled machining operations become necessary to create the grooves.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present valve and valve seat configurations. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter.